I have a similar thing with my brother, and some people at work, always recommending books to each other, and it really does always provide fertile ground for conversation. Also, Middlemarch is the next "big read" I'm building up towards. I'm really looking forward to it.
That is such a nice thing to have with your brother! My brothers and I do this too and it's a great way for us to maintain meaningful relationships even though we all live in different places. Middlemarch is so wonderful -- i wish I could read it again for the first time, I hope you enjoy it!
I really like this idea of building a common universe, some kind of small private mythology to make bonds firmer and conversations deeper. How have achieved it with your friends? Was it natural from the beginning, did it build up and "formalise" after you first lended each other books casually? Or did you, in some way, collectively decide to put this in place?
The only time I did something similar with friends was when we were in the same class and therefore had the same compulsory readings... It's too bad we have not continued after we all split up and continued our lives with busier schedules. One thing we did was that we would have a "reference book", a copy in which everyone wrote notes, comments, jokes, etc ; it made a second reading much more enjoyable.
I have a similar thing with my brother, and some people at work, always recommending books to each other, and it really does always provide fertile ground for conversation. Also, Middlemarch is the next "big read" I'm building up towards. I'm really looking forward to it.
That is such a nice thing to have with your brother! My brothers and I do this too and it's a great way for us to maintain meaningful relationships even though we all live in different places. Middlemarch is so wonderful -- i wish I could read it again for the first time, I hope you enjoy it!
I really like this idea of building a common universe, some kind of small private mythology to make bonds firmer and conversations deeper. How have achieved it with your friends? Was it natural from the beginning, did it build up and "formalise" after you first lended each other books casually? Or did you, in some way, collectively decide to put this in place?
The only time I did something similar with friends was when we were in the same class and therefore had the same compulsory readings... It's too bad we have not continued after we all split up and continued our lives with busier schedules. One thing we did was that we would have a "reference book", a copy in which everyone wrote notes, comments, jokes, etc ; it made a second reading much more enjoyable.